This is the first study that assesses the economic effects of direct democratic institutions on a cross country basis. Most of the results of the former intra-country studies could be confirmed. On the basis of some 30 countries, a higher degree of direct democracy leads to lower total...

This article investigates and compares the root causes of transnational terrorism and piracy. In order to accomplish this, we construct a novel data set that catalogues terrorist activity and piracy over the years 1992–2008, paying particular attention to the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean since...

This is a survey of the literature linking economics and politics. In the introduction, I explain why it is necessary to study these issues as a separate course in economics. I then proceed to analyze voting models, the political business cycle, international and foreign policy issues. The...

This paper investigates the implications of how states with initiative systems of legislation can use this more direct form of democracy to improve productive resource allocation by their goverments. We construct a simple growth model whereby we can identify this channel through which...

The prupose of this paper is to investigate whether legislators vote in two distinct blocs as suggested by the US political system and whether these voting patterns can be explained by economic variables. The paper employs a variant of the Hamilton Reime-Switching Model (1989) to uncover three...

Hace un año, un grupo heterogéneo de investigadores del Centro de Investigación de la Universidad del Pacífico (CIUP) inició un esfuerzo colectivo para pensar en el futuro de nuestra economía y sociedad más allá del corto plazo. El trabajo que presentamos a continuación resume algunas...

This paper responds to the development policy debate involving the World Bank and the IMF on the use of fiscal policy not only for economic stabilization but also to promote economic growth and increase per capita income. A key issue in this debate relates to the effect of the composition of...

This note discusses the external environment, economic outlook, and key policy challenges for the six South East European Countries (SEE6)—Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH), Kosovo, the former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia—as they seek to reignite economic...

This paper looks at the history of money and its modern form from a scientific and mathematical point of view. The approach here is to emphasize simplicity. A straightforward model and algebraic formula for a large economy analogous to the ideal gas law of thermodynamics is proposed. It may be...

The paper reviews the evolution of research and innovation in the EU and assesses how current policies and programmes have influenced the development of Europe's research landscape. Based on existing literature, evaluation reports and practice, the paper critically examines the effectiveness of...